Electric lamps for emergency and/or for duty under particular environment conditions, and relative improved lamps

ABSTRACT

An electric emergency lamp includes a self-contained power supply, comprising a rechargeable accumulator or battery, a first electric circuit connectable to an external power supply for battery recharge and a second electric circuit controllable from the outside to switch on the light source of the lamp. The lamp is designed to operate in environments and/or conditions requiring the observance of tight seals, the lack of connections capable of giving rise to sparking and the like, for which purpose the electric battery circuits are incorporated within a waterproof lamp casing and can be connected to an external AC supply by an electric magnetoinductively operating power transducer, the secondary winding of which is incorporated within the waterproof casing, whereas the primary winding can be brought close to the waterproof casing, so as to ensure the closure of the magnetic circuit between said primary and secondary windings.

United States Patent Boin [ 1 Feb. 8, 1972 IMPROVED LAMPS [72] Inventor:Giovanni Boin, Via Luosi 9, Milan, Italy [22] Filed: Apr. 5, 1971 [21]Appl. No.: 130,826

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 725,872, May1, 1968, abandoned.

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data May 6, 1967 Italy ..15,s05

[52] U.S. Cl. ..240/10.6 R, 320/2, 320/3, 320/4 [51] Int. Cl..F2ll7/00,F21l9/00,F2ll11/00 [58] Field oiSearch ..240/l0.6 R; 320/2-4[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,506,302 8/1924 Hopkins...2}0 /10.6 R H 2,257,860 10/1941 Talbot et a1. ..240/l0.6 R 2,582,3301/1952 Hautala 3,277,358 10/1966 Nicholl ..320/2 3,418,552 12/1968Holmes ..320/2 Primary Examiner-Samuel S. Matthews AssistantExaminer-Richard A. Wintercom [57] ABSTRACT An electric emergency lampincludes a self-contained power supply, comprising a rechargeableaccumulator or battery, a first electric circuit connectable to anexternal power supply for battery recharge and a second electric circuitcontrollable from the outside to switch on the light source of the lamp.The lamp is designed to operate in environments and/or conditionsrequiring the observance of tight seals, the lack of connections capableof giving rise to sparking and the like, for which purpose the electricbattery circuits are incorporated within a waterproof lamp casing andcan be connected to an external AC supply by an electricmagnetoinductively operating power transducer, the secondary winding ofwhich is incorporated within the waterproof casing, whereas the primarywinding can be brought close to the waterproof casing, so as to ensurethe closure of the magnetic circuit between said primary and secondarywindings.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEBFEB a ma 3.841.336

l0 F/CI3 INVENTOR GCO VA N N! BOIN BY gem/Win36 \jwlf ATTORNEY ELECTRICLAMPS FOR EMERGENCY AND/ OR FOR DUTY UNDER PARTICULAR ENVIRONMENTCONDITIONS, AND RELATIVE IMPROVED LAMPS This invention relates toimprovements in electric emergency lamps and similar electric devices,provided with a self-contained power supply, particularly anaccumulator, and more particularly the present invention relates toemergency lamps and equivalent electrical apparatuses suitable to beused in environments exhibiting particular duty conditions, such asthose requiring the use of strictly waterproof and/or flarneproofapparatus, that is such as not to absolutely and even unusually giverise to such sparking phenomena as to cause a priming of explosivemixtures, combustible gases and the like. Therefore, the improvedemergency lamps according to the invention are designed to be, forexample, conveniently used in ships, mines, factories, warehouses or thelike, the environment of which might be contaminated by combustiblegases, chemical agents and the like.

Particularly, it is the object of this invention to provide emergencylamps and equivalent electrical apparatus, particularly of the movingtype, of a waterproof construction and capable of association with anexternal power supply, particularly an AC local distributing main, forrecharge and maintenance of the relative accumulator cell at nonnalconstant use conditions, the connection between said external supply andaccumulator cell, or more particularly the electric and electroniccomponents for current transformation and rectification, being effectedby components separable from one another and between which in any casethere is no potential differential capable of giving rise to sparkingphenomena.

It is also the object of this invention to provided emergency means, theelectric and electronic components of which are entirely at a solidstate and however at the most favorable resisting conditions againstshocks and the most serious environmental and operating conditions.

It is another object of this invention to provide an emergency means ofthe above-stated type for automatically signalling and intervening incase of lack of power at the local supply net work or main for the meansof normal illumination, immediately substituting for the latter in suchan event, and providing for a self-contained light source, separablefrom said means for its connection to main.

Finally, it is an object of this invention to provide an emergency meansfor the specified or equivalent uses, comprising switching devices forintegrating the performances thereof and improving the duty conditionsthereof, as entirely shielded from the external environment and operablethrough magnetic field application, so as to remove any discontinuity inthe coatings or waterproof casings of the several components.

The accompanying drawing shows a preferred, but not exclusiveembodiment, illustrating only those parts and components which areessential and peculiar to the invention, and particularly:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an emergency lamp, together with itsconnecting means to an external AC supply, at a separated position;

FIG. 2 is fragmentary view showing said lamp at its normal waiting andmaintaining conditions of the accumulator cell to the required chargelevel; and

FIG. 3 diagrammatically shows the essential components for the input,battery charge and ignition circuits.

Particularly referring to the figures in the drawing, the emergency lampin the shown embodiment comprises, as proper structural parts thereof, astrictly waterproof box casing or container 10, preferably but notnecessarily of a metal construction Said casing is provided with agripping handle 12, preferably swingable and settable by rotation abouta pin 14, and acting as an operating member for switching on and offsaid lamp, as hereinafter described. On one face of casing head anaperture is provided (tightly sealed by a suitable optical condenser l6acting also as a suitable optical distributor), within the space ofwhich the actual light source, as an assembled filament lamp 18 (FIG.3), as well as the reflective surfaces and/or concentrating andcondensing lens means prearranged for emitting the light beam at thedesired conditions, are disposed. At the prevailing and lower section ofcasing 10 the accumulator battery is disposed, which battery ispreferably of the nickel cadmium and stationary liquid type, and anyhowsuitable for the duty conditions of said emergency means.

Within said head 10 of said casing there are arranged the electric andelectronic solid state components for rectifying the alternate currentfor battery recharge and automatic control of the instantaneousconditions in charge level in order to assure operation thereof.

The circuit within said head 10' is schematically shown in FIG. 3 andrealizable according to the present technical knowledge in electronicfield, such components being suitably combined in accordance with thefunction logic as required in various operative cases.

Particularly, such circuits, as exemplified in said diagram, comprises acircuit controlling the switching on for lamp 18 and a circuit forbattery recharge when its charge level drops below a predeterminedminimum value. These circuits are capable of automatically providing theswitching on of lamp 18 when the external supply is lacking in power,thus providing, in addition to the signal lack, for the immediatereplacement of the normal illumination by that as provided by theemergency lamp.

According to a convenient additional characteristic of this improvement,the switching on of the lamp will depend on the operation of a knownswitch, designated at 20 in FlG. 3, having lamellar or bar contactstightly sealed within a bulb (such switches being commonly referred toas Reed), said switching on occurring when said switch 20 is releasedfrom influence of a permanent magnet 22 accommodated within said handle12, this influence appearing when said handle, set in direction (A) asshown at 12 in FIGS. 2 and 3, moves said magnet to a position 22'sufficiently adjacent said Reed" 20, enclosed within the casing of head10. Such a technical approach will in any case provide for lampswitching on when said handle is lifted, as required for transportationthereof, the setting of said handle in the opposite direction (B)ensuring the switching on, even when said lamp is not manually carriedor anyhow appended to said handle.

According to a peculiar feature of this improvement, when at its waitconditions, as laid down or hooked to a suitable support, the emergencylamp is connected to a local AC distributing network 24, such as bymeans of a flexible cord 26 terminating at a head 28 which may behooked, such as by means of dovetail couplings 30, to a side or howeveran outer surface area of the casing, particularly the head 10' of thelamp.

This connection is provided by means of a magnetoinductive solid-statetransducer comprising primary and secondary components bodily separatedand jointly providing an electric transformer.

As particularly seen in FIG. 3, within head 28 or primary component theprimary winding 32 is arranged and connected to cord 26 and hencenetwork 24, while the second winding or component 34 is enclosed withinthe lamp head 10.

Said primary and secondary windings 32 and 34, respectively, are woundabout armature components 36 and 38, respectively, jointly suitable forensuring the closure of the magnetic transformer circuit, when at themutual opposing position, as shown in FlG. 3, and held by the propercoupling of head 28 to couplings 30, as shown in FIG. 2. Substantially,the armature components 36 and 38 would embody, when being at saidrelative position, a conventional stack of sheets or packing bodilydivided into two parts according to a sectional plane coinciding withthe opposite surfaces of the side for head 10' and face 28' for head 28,respectively. As seen from FIG. 1, on said surfaces there appear thefaces 36' and 38' as a result of said armature sectioning. Suchappearing faces are suitably smoothed, so as to ensure a close matchingwhen head 28 is applied (FIGS. 2 and 3) in order to minimize the gapsjeopardizing the closure of the magnetic circuits.

According to a further additional feature of the invention, the inductorunit (32, 36) of said transducer, incorporated within said head 28, hasits magnetic circuit open when said head is moved away from the lampcasing. In order to avoid a useless power dissipation at the primarysection of the transducer, winding 32 is connected in series with aswitch 40, still of the Reed type (FIG. 3), which is open when notbiased by the field of a permanent magnet 42, located at the side of thelamp casing at a position suitable for exerting its magnetic bias onsaid Reed. 40 when said head 28 is placed in situ. Alternatively, inplace of Reed there could be a capacitor such as to form together withthe series inductance of said primary winding 38 a LC circuit forlimiting the current as absorbed by said primary winding upon separationof head 28, which would otherwise occur due to variation of primarywinding 32. As the useful power or output at the secondary winding 34will depend on the type of lamp which is desired to be carried out,obviously the above-mentioned capacitor has to be sized proportionallyto the useful output, such as for a useful output of about 5 W. at thesecondary winding a capacitor of about l of. was used.

From the foregoing and from an observation of the appended figures, itwill be apparent that the connecting as well as the interrupting of theconnection, exclusively magnetically accomplished do not include anyrelative movements between the conducting elements between which anelectric potential differential might exist, and as well it will beapparent that the improved lamp does not include any externalelectroconducting elements, moving components anyhow passing through thewaterproof casing or other elements which may give rise todiscontinuities or other drawbacks.

It is also apparent that, although the invention has been described as awaterproof and flameproof lamp for emergency duties, the above-disclosedinventive concepts and the technical approaches resulting therefrom canbe conveniently adapted for different uses requiring the observance oflike or similar duty conditions, and the lamp can be as well provided inmany different forms and according to other construction approaches,without departing from the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A portable electric emergency lamp comprising a casing, a lightsource, a self-contained power supply constituted by a rechargeablebattery in the casing, a transformer, a first winding of the transformerbeing associated with the lamp casing and connected to the battery, thesecond winding being detachable from the casing, a first electriccircuit connected to the battery and connectable to the first windingfor battery recharge and a second electric circuit controllable from theoutside to connect the light source to the battery, the second windingbeing connectable to an external AC supply, said transformer comprisingan electric magnetoinductively operating power transducer, saidtransformer windings being each associated with an armature section, thetwo armature sections jointly forming the magnetic circuit when thesurfaces of said supply head and casing are caused to touch.

2. A lamp as in claim 1, including normally open switching means incircuit with one of said windings and magnetically biasable, andpermanent magnet means carried by the part carrying the other winding tobias said switching means to closed position.

3. Improved lamp as in claim 2, comprising a movable handle formed as awaterproof casing carrying said second winding, said permanent magnetmeans being incorporated in said lamp casing.

4. The improved lamp as in claim 1, wherein a capacitoris connected inseries to the electric circuit of the primary winding, said capacitorforming in conjunction with the impedance of said electric circuit an LCcircuit for limiting the current absorption of the primary winding whenmoved away from the secondary winding.

1. A portable electric emergency lamp comprising a casing, a lightsource, a self-contained power supply constituted by a rechargeablebattery in the casing, a transformer, a first winding of the transformerbeing associated with the lamp casing and connected to the battery, thesecond winding being detachable from the casing, a first electriccircuit connected to the battery and connectable to the first windingfor battery recharge and a second electric circuit controllable from theoutside to connect the light source to the battery, the second windingbeing connectable to an external AC supply, said transformer comprisingan electric magnetoinductively operating power transducer, saidtransformer windings being each associated with an armature section, thetwo armature sections jointly forming the magnetic circuit when thesurfaces of said supply head and casing are caused to touch.
 2. A lampas in claim 1, including normally open switching means in circuit withone of said windings and magnetically biasable, and permanent magnetmeans carried by the part carrying the other winding to bias saidswitching means to closed position.
 3. Improved lamp as in claim 2,comprising a movable handle formed as a waterproof casing carrying saidsecond winding, said permanent magnet means being incorporated in saidlamp casing.
 4. The improved lamp as in claim 1, wherein a capacitor isconnected in series to the electric circuit of the primary winding, saidcapacitor forming in conjunction with the impedance of said electriccircuit an LC circuit for limiting the current absorption of the primarywinding when moved away from the secondary winding.